Advertisers will soon be able to pay to ensure that every impression they pay
for will be visible to the user

Google is making significant changes to the way it charges for advertisements, giving clients the option to pay for only those impressions where their ad has a chance to be seen.

One of the biggest flaws of online display advertising is that companies often end up paying for advertising slots that users either cannot or will not look at. According to recent figures from comScore, nearly half of all online advertisements are never seen by website visitors.

"Even the jingliest, jolliest ad of the season can’t work its magic unless it gets seen," said Google group product manager James Beser in a blog post. "That has been the driving force behind a number of investments we’ve been making over the past year to make viewability (or whether an ad is actually visible on a page) a core part of our products."

Google's new Active View offering is based on an emerging industry standard called IAB/3MS, which states that an ad is only “viewable” if more than 50 per cent of it is visible on the screen for one second or longer.

Advertisers will be able to see a report of how many viewable impressions they have received for any given campaign, and this data can be used to inform future campaigns.

"As we’ve said before, making viewability a basis for buying, selling and measuring media can help transform the digital marketplace," said Beser. "With access to more meaningful metrics, brand advertisers can unleash their most creative campaigns, knowing they’ll have a chance to shine."

More than 2 million websites use Google technology to sell ads as part of the Google Display Network. As a result of the changes, Google will be able to charge customers higher prices, because its Active View technology can guarantee that every impression a customer pays for will be visible to the user.

As the first major online ad network to offer viewable impressions to its customers, Google has raised its game in the battle for ad dollars against rivals like Twitter and Facebook, which place ads in users' news feeds, where they are most likely to be seen.

Beser added that Active View will enable publishers to more fairly value all of their inventory, not just those spots considered “above-the-fold".